What are you cutting in your budget to absorb the Payroll Tax increase?

[donaldlovesdaisy]

If you've been on this board for any amount of time, you realize that nearly everyone here: 1) Has 100K in savings 2) Has NO debt, not even a car or a house 3)Has fully funded retirement and college savings accounts and 3) Has the financial memory of an elephant . I just roll with it . Many people who see this thread are probably embarrassed to admit they didn't know it was coming.

For us it went something like this: "Crud, we're going to be getting less money. Oh yeah, there was that holiday thingie like 2 years ago ." I imagine it was the same way for the majority of the population, except for people willing to post on this thread!! --Katie

Bravo! I absolutely do not remember all this tax holiday nonsense because I just don't pay that much attention to the news. Is this tax increase going to kill us nope but I am I disgusted to have to pay yet more taxes on top of what we already pay yep but I won't get into the politics of that on here.

 

[okeydokey]

We will make it work with a bit less each paycheck. For the amount of taxes we pay, we get lots of services so I will not complain. Americans are paying less in taxes today than they have in decades.

 

[NYEmomma]

Not changing anything. It's less than $100 a month for us and DH's raise will cover that.

 

[marmalade]

Seems to be a very unusual percentage of responders who remembered this was temporary and put the "extra" SS money into savings.

I remembered at first that this reduction was temporary. Then DH changed jobs and I started thinking his new paycheck was what he'd consistently earn at the new job.

I get it that we are just returning to standard tax rates. But it does mean that each check will now be smaller than it was. I forgot this change was coming. That makes me unusual on this thread. I doubt it makes me unusual in the general population.

We will adjust by decreasing the amount we pay off on our mortgage each month.

I'll be unusual on this thread right along with you. I honestly don't even remember it being reduced in the first place. I am sure my DH's paycheck changed 2yrs ago, but he has had a few raises since then so his paycheck changed a few times. I was a stay at home my for the past 3yrs, no paycheck for me.

Fortunately for me I just got a raise that went into effect this first paycheck so I don't really notice the difference because my raise out-ways the additional 2%.

However I do feel for everyone who in the past 2 years with the rising costs of everything took that extra 2% and used it to survive and now they need to make up that missing money by changing things in their budget.

 

[disykat]

If you've been on this board for any amount of time, you realize that nearly everyone here: 1) Has 100K in savings 2) Has NO debt, not even a car or a house 3)Has fully funded retirement and college savings accounts and 4) Has the financial memory of an elephant . I just roll with it . Many people who see this thread are probably embarrassed to admit they didn't know it was coming.

While I know that's an exageration, I never get why it's a surprise to people that this board has lots of pretty afluent people. It's a board full of people who can afford to vacation at WDW!

I'm not as afluent as some here, but am not surprised this is a board with many people who have a certain amount of means.

 

[eliza61]

If you've been on this board for any amount of time, you realize that nearly everyone here: 1) Has 100K in savings 2) Has NO debt, not even a car or a house 3)Has fully funded retirement and college savings accounts and 4) Has the financial memory of an elephant . I just roll with it . Many people who see this thread are probably embarrassed to admit they didn't know it was coming.

For us it went something like this: "Crud, we're going to be getting less money. Oh yeah, there was that holiday thingie like 2 years ago ." I imagine it was the same way for the majority of the population, except for people willing to post on this thread!! --Katie

Really? I don't think so. I'm happy to say that I actually did remember this one mainly for two reasons.
When it was first announce there were financial gurus all over the place debating whether or not it would help the economy. So I remember the debates more so the actual give back.

Second. we have a financial planner. Our FP is pretty good with sending out quaterly emails and in almost all of his emails he had a rolling scroll on the bottom reminding people not to start counting on that 2% give back.

So we were good little sheep and followed his advice.

Neither does it surprise me (now) that folks here have no debt. I think a lot of us (definitely myself) got that way from the "school of been there, done that". My dh was one that had credit issues and once he got over them swore "never again". I know I always post how I wish that I had started saving earlier than we did. but I know lots of people who once they dug themselves out of cc debt, never make that mistake again.

 

[kellia]

I will also admit that I completely forgot about it ending, too! However, after reading this, I do remember when it happened I bumped up my 401k withholding. I stayed home with my kids for a few years, so after I went back to work the couple of times I've gotten small increases at work I've increased my retirement so I wouldn't miss it. I need to catch up so maybe I can retire some day since I don't plan on SS being there by the time I need it.

Dh's company got bought out by a much bigger one at the end of the year so our benefit expenses actually went down a little, so I guess it will be a wash.

 

[ilovemk76]

If you've been on this board for any amount of time, you realize that nearly everyone here: 1) Has 100K in savings 2) Has NO debt, not even a car or a house 3)Has fully funded retirement and college savings accounts and 4) Has the financial memory of an elephant . I just roll with it . Many people who see this thread are probably embarrassed to admit they didn't know it was coming.

For us it went something like this: "Crud, we're going to be getting less money. Oh yeah, there was that holiday thingie like 2 years ago ." I imagine it was the same way for the majority of the population, except for people willing to post on this thread!! --Katie

You can laugh all you want but those of us who live this way will enjoy our retirement.

We are in our 50s, so having a paid off house is not a hard thing to have done. We only refinanced once to drop our high, yes at our age they were well in the double digits, and to shorten our terms. We never cashed out.

We had not help from anybody, so we had to make it work for us. CCs were around but not used like they are now. We were scared, at a young age, that CC balances were bad. As a result, we never carried it.

If we did not have $100K in our "savings", we would never be able to retire.

We have a CFP, who works with us to get us to our retirement goals.

I remember the 2% "gift" for two reasons. 1) I thought it was a stupid idea and 2) all the people saying that getting $50 would not change their life. Funny how many not are saying that losing $50 will change their life.

 

[skeettafic]

Actually, this has been a great little wake up call for DH and all of a sudden he's on board with my budgeting/debt free attempts!!! For us, it's about $150 a month and would have cut back on our discretionary spending but I had already told DH that I wanted to really get a firm budget together this year and get our CC debt paid off. Well, when our checks came Friday, it was like a lightbulb went off! I've been asking him to consider cutting cable for well over a year and today he told me to do it! So we're going to go to nexflix and hulu which will take care of the "loss". I have a feeling our spending is going to be much different from now on!

 

[patsal]

Getting a few dollars extra in my check was not life altering and not getting it won't be either. Taxes are a certainty, so it doesn't surprise me that these are going up as it was just a temporary thing, as I recall, from a few years ago. I will not need to make any changes, but if it were the old days I could cut an unecessary item like cable, cell phones, bottled beverages, lunches at work, going out to eat...tons of places I could make painless cuts as none of them are necessities.

 

[Marionnette]

If you've been on this board for any amount of time, you realize that nearly everyone here: 1) Has 100K in savings 2) Has NO debt, not even a car or a house 3)Has fully funded retirement and college savings accounts and 4) Has the financial memory of an elephant . I just roll with it . Many people who see this thread are probably embarrassed to admit they didn't know it was coming.

For us it went something like this: "Crud, we're going to be getting less money. Oh yeah, there was that holiday thingie like 2 years ago ." I imagine it was the same way for the majority of the population, except for people willing to post on this thread!! --Katie

You're wrong on one count...I have way more than $100K in savings. You can laugh at those who are similarly situated but down deep, you'd like to be a part of our "club". A smart person would pay attention to what we do and say instead of ridiculing us. A rich man pays attention to his money...where it comes from and where it goes. He also stays alert to anything the government does to affect his money and takes appropriate steps.

Like ilovemk76, I remember the plan when it went into effect because a) I also thought it was a dumb idea and b) it did nothing to help the business owner since businesses still had to pay 6.2% for every employee.

 

[mebbradley]

I am definitely not one of the people who has 100K in savings [no matter what kind] and more like 100K in debt club [thanks to student loans/house/car].

I did not know about the 2% thing because two years ago, I wasn't working. So I've only ever seen my pay with this.

 

[skip323]

Aware or not doesn't change the fact that, for many people, unexpected LIFE changes happened in the last couple of years! My family health insurance has basically doubled from what it was... We pay $600/month and still have to meet a large deductible. I am grateful to have insurance but it is killing us! Then there's the fact that my state has joined in the "public educators are horrible" rants & has made it possible for our districts to never have to give raises....a few years ago raises of some sort were still given. If things were like they had been several years ago, this would not be an issue but now....it just hurts. And I'm too close to being eligible for early retirement to leave.

 

[carrie1626]

Did people honestly not know it was reverting back?

It shouldn't have been a surprise.

Exactly

I went down in retirement savings, 15% to 10%
Less non-essentials at the grocery store
Dropped insurance on 3 cell phones
I will spend less time shopping since the diposable $ in my wallet will be less.

I think by my 5th ck in March, I'll be used to it.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

You're wrong on one count...I have way more than $100K in savings. You can laugh at those who are similarly situated but down deep, you'd like to be a part of our "club". A smart person would pay attention to what we do and say instead of ridiculing us. A rich man pays attention to his money...where it comes from and where it goes. He also stays alert to anything the government does to affect his money and takes appropriate steps.

Like ilovemk76, I remember the plan when it went into effect because a) I also thought it was a dumb idea and b) it did nothing to help the business owner since businesses still had to pay 6.2% for every employee.

Why on earth would anyone here would feel the need to publicly announce their net worth on a message board!

 

[kydisneyfans]

It's between a $35-40 decrease on each check around here.
Add that to no raise since 2008, a $500 increase in homeowners insurance for 2013 alone, a 7% increase in electric rates, and a proposed 18% jump in water rates, the squeeze is tighter.

We eliminated the Disney trip for 2013, we've been blessed and went every year since our son was born. We also cut back our 401K contribution percentages. We have landed a part time weekend job to help with income, now each of us work around 70 hours a week, so family time is non existant anymore.

At least the government gets their raises and increased tax revenue though, so all is good.

 

[kydisneyfans]

My beef is also how it is being advertised by the media. WIth the fiscal cliff "solved", taxes did not increase on middle class families. Really? My check being $36 less due to taxes IS a tax increase, regardless if it was a tax holiday or not. Don't tell me it isn't a tax increase when my paycheck says otherwise.

 

[vacationer1954]

A lot of Members of Congress have promised not to vote for higher tax rates on the middle class so it is important for them to be able to say honestly that they didn't. Otherwise the result would have probably been an increase over and above the impact of the expiration of the payroll tax holiday. We can't make it impossible for Congress to do things like tax holidays without people thinking of the expirations as tax increases because that could make it so that they'll never do another tax holiday even when the economy needs them to.

 

[imsayin]

Why on earth would anyone here would feel the need to publicly announce their net worth on a message board!

Saying you have more than $100K in savings is not announcing your net worth. I don't see anything wrong with the statement.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

Saying you have more than $100K in savings is not announcing your net worth. I don't see anything wrong with the statement.

I find it bizarre to announce that type of info on a public message board to total strangers.